10 Things You Need To Know This Morning

Markets in Asia moved little in overnight trade, with Japan’s Nikkei off 0.2 per cent. Shares in Europe are lower while U.S. futures point to a negative open.

Chinese flash PMI jumped to a five-month high in July, climbing to 49.5 from 48.1 a month earlier. This follows two interest rate cuts and a push from leaders to stabilise economic growth. Here’s SocGen’s presentation on the slowing Chinese economy >

Manufacturing in the eurozone continued to weaken in July. The flash Eurozone PMI reading declined to 46.4 in July, the sixth consecutive month below 50. Germany faced significant pressures, as manufacturing activity hit a 37-month low.

Moody’s lowered the core Eurozone outlook to negative. The ratings agency moved three of Europe’s strongest AAA countries — Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg — to negative as it sees Greek costs weighing on the region. Moody’s affirmed Finland’s stable outlook.

Spanish yields hit a new record this morning, after the country sold more than €3.05 billion of three- and six-month Treasury bills to strong demand. Nonetheless yields on the 10-year traded as high as 7.607 per cent. Paul Krugman checks this chart every day when he wakes up >

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were charged with hacking into voice mail systems to get stories. The two were among eight News Corp. journalists charged this morning.

Spikes in trading in late January and February may have masked the real cost J.P. Morgan’s Chief Investment Office took on, Bloomberg’s Mary Childs and Shannon Harrington report. The trades came right before end-of-month internal audits to verify prices.

U.S. economic announcements kick off at 9:00 a.m. with Flash PMI, estimated at 52. The Richmond Fed’s manufacturing report and U.S. home prices follow at 10:00 a.m. The Richmond Fed business conditions index is expected to improve two points to -1, while home prices increase 0.4 per cent in May. Follow it all live on Money Game >

Earnings on tap today include AT&T, Lockheed Martin, and Du Pont. Already, Du Pont and AT&T announced better than expected earnings, even as revenue fell slightly below analyst forecasts at $11.0 and $31.6 billion, respectively. Still to come: Lockheed Martin, which is expected to report earnings of $1.91 per share. The world’s biggest companies reveal what’s happening in the global economy >

Obama campaign ads hammering Romney appear to be having a significant effect on voters, a new poll out of Reuters shows. 30-six per cent of registered voters viewed Romney less favourably after seeing the ads targeting his U.S. jobs record.